If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Notes
~Trains in the Battle Subway are no longer for battling, except for the train that goes in a circular route.
~The trains now lead to new areas of Unova. These areas will be unlocked throughout the game, some of which will involve the plot.
~Anville has three houses (like Nuvema) and has no real purpose in BW1 so it looks like a candidate to be the new starting town.
~The desert route and Twist Mountain will be different due to the construction in BW1.
~There will be a subway station either built in Striaton or where the Dreamyard was in BW1.
~To avoid repetition with BW1, we will not be battling the gym leaders throughout the main storyline BW2. Instead we will fight eight (probably evil) bosses. Gyms will be a post-game challenge.
~We will pursue the right half of the circular path in Unova since we took the left path in BW1. To enforce this, the Driftveil Drawbridge will be raised until after the credits.
~Since the right half of Unova will be a part of the main storyline, the plot will involve the Giant Chasm (coughKYUREMcough) and the Abyssal Ruins.
~The final showdown of the storyline will take place at one of the new locations of Unova accessible by the Subway (as opposed to the usual Pokemon League).
~In the post-game, the gyms will be accessible, and the left side of Unova will be open. After receiving all eight badges, you will be able to challenge the Pokemon League as per usual.
~Maybe, just maybe, the train in the Subway that leads up to the Pokemon League will lead to a special section of the League in which the Champions from the different regions challenge each other. Such a location was hinted-at in BW1 by Cynthia.

Huge stretch, just thought I'd have some fun in the speculation thread. Let me know what you think.

As you can see, I've been predicting that we'll go east for a while now.

Look.
Its a sequel in the same generation.
There wont be new pokemon.
Meaning same starters and same legends encountered.

Which then means that there will be no new hero while at the same time the events of BW cannot have passed already at the start of BW2.
As the starters and legends would have been caught or defeated by the BW hero already.

Which leads to the only logical and really simple conclusion:
BW2 will be retelling BW.
You will start in the same town, pick from the same starters from the same prof, and go north etc.
Essentially up to E4 (with the main plot parts changed of course),
but instead of the sudden ending, the story will continue (hence sequel/"2") and finish this time, as you travel the east side of Unova, with ACTUAL business instead of just hide&seek with the seemingly unimportant plasma sages.

Viola
Even makes sense about why east Unova felt like a boring postgame sidetrack without much of a purpose.
(note how Kyurem was found there too anyway.)

And obviously there will be the usual additions and improvements of details, upgraded subway, move tutors, etc etc.

So dont get way too excited about it.
Its still gonna be much better than a plain third version as the full story was planned for it in advance and will definitely be much more than just a few scenes changed.
But consider that they're likely working on the next games as we speak if thats not good enough.
Expect a normal third version and you'll love it.

Personally I cant wait to see what they came up with, as BW (even though it had the most developed and deep story of any pkmn game) felt like ~75% done. With BW2 announced I realised why.

Just want to say that I also think this is the best way for Gamefreak to pull off what they seem to be doing here, and that I hope something like this happens.

98% of the teenage population has died smoking pot. If you're one of the 2% who hasn't, copy & paste this in your signature.
Good old natural selection...

I'm suggesting that things can change from how they've always been, and I've given business-related, aesthetic-related, AND design-related reasons for why they should. You're just saying that it can't change from how it's always been because it's never changed before. And you think that overrules all the reasons I've given. That isn't even a valid point. Please never become a game designer.

But the reasons you gave are not enough to justify changing the game formula in such a drastic way. You seem to think taking gyms out are the only way they can change the game. I'm not saying gyms will be there just because that's how it's always been; I'm saying that's how it's always been because it's a major part of the game.
It is a valid point. They aren't going to remove the main focus of the game. And I shouldn't become a game designer because I wouldn't remove the major staple of my series? That's amusing.

They aren't going to do away with gym battles. I'm surprised I even have to say that.

But the reasons you gave are not enough to justify changing the game formula in such a drastic way. You seem to think taking gyms out are the only way they can change the game. I'm not saying gyms will be there just because that's how it's always been; I'm saying that's how it's always been because it's a major part of the game.
It is a valid point. They aren't going to remove the main focus of the game. And I shouldn't become a game designer because I wouldn't remove the major staple of my series? That's amusing.

They aren't going to do away with gym battles. I'm surprised I even have to say that.

Think about it this way: The reason certain staples remain part of game series is because a game in that series would be hindered and thus depreciate without that staple. Pokemon would not suffer without gyms in the storyline. All they are is a very basic boss battle concept. You could take it out and replace it with a parallel boss system and Pokemon would be just as fun if not more. They're perfectly disposable. Just because they've been in every game so far doesn't mean Game Freak is going to forever imprison themselves to an aging system.

Gyms were invented for a game with sucky black-and-white graphics. It was designed to give the player a basic sense of progression since there was barely a storyline. The series can afford to implement a more immersive, story-driven boss system now. And there can still be 8 bosses, so it's really not all that different. They just wouldn't all be in matching buildings labeled "GYM".

I'm not even suggesting they do away with gyms; just move them to the post-game for BW2 so its journey won't be just like BW1's. Therefore, your little staple would still technically be intact.

Edit: and if your still stuck on the idea that gyms will forever be a staple, consider this: what if the staple is that gyms are the bosses in the first games of a generation, and some other boss system is used for the sequels? For all we know, that might be the staple; but we woudn't know, because we've never had a mid-generation sequel before..

Just a minor thought I'd like to bring up(playing Devil's Advocate). GS were originally supposed to be sequels to RBY, and had a system of tradebacks for trading with RBY.

Now I'm not insinuating there WILL be new Pokemon(I'm skeptical of that myself), just bringing up the possibility they could pull a tradebacks-style system with B2W2 and introduce new Pokemon that way.

Just some food for thought while we all anxiously wait for CoroCoro scans.

Why do n00bs exist? Find out by pressing Ctrl+W!

Originally Posted by chosen_one386

I'd squeak, too, and I'm merely a year older than she is. Hey, and 18 year olds squeal, too. :P I know I do.

Eighteen year olds actually squeal in USA. IT'S A CONSPIRACY TO TAKE OVER THE WORLD USING SQUEALS OF EIGHTEEN YEAR OLDS!

Credits to Gladeshadow!

[IMG]http://i46.*******.com/mmxlg.png[/IMG]
Exploting the AI like never before!

Look.
Which then means that there will be no new hero while at the same time the events of BW cannot have passed already at the start of BW2.
As the starters and legends would have been caught or defeated by the BW hero already.

HG/SS destroys that arguement right there.
in the events prior to the story of HG/SS (the story of red), red and blue take 2 of the 3 starters offered by professor oak. However in HG/SS professor oak still has 3 starters to give.

We can assume that there is only one mewtwo, as team rocket only created one mewtwo, the one in cerulean cave, red is granted access to the cave, in hg/ss the mewtwo is still in that cave, meaning the NPC red didn't catch it, even though we did while playing as red.

The same arguement cannot be extended to entei/ raikou/ suicune or articuno, zapdos and moltres, as these are not one of a kind. entei/ raikou and suicune were said to be in burnt tower since it burnt down (i think), they never left the building, and in one pokedex entry it says "a new entei is born when a volcano erupts). the legendary bird trio are also not one of a kind, because they appear in platinum and in hg/ss (the events of these two games happen concurrently) which makes it impossible for these three to be in two regions if they were a one-of-a-kind pokemon.

This arguement can be used to extend to the BW and BW2 situation. since rom/ram were caught IN THE STORY, they shouldn't appear in the games as wild pokemon, unless they were released prior to the events of BW2 (or during the events of BW2). kyurem will receive the mew treatment and it will seem as though it was never caught, because the BW story ends with the capture of the sages, none of which involves kyurem. victini, and the other (hidden) pokemon will appear to, because it will seem as though the hilbert/hilda didnt have the means to obtain them. which leaves us with the muskteer trio and the windtrio. they too can recieve the mew treatment or we can assume they too are not one-of-a-kind, not much is known about them, so i can't say for sure.

So two new Gym leaders too! I wonder if the Striation Gym Leaders are gone afterall?! There is a new Water gym.. and a Poison gym! Part of Unova is frozen though, could explain that two gym leaders will be unable to be accessed?

And sure they CAN advertise other aesthetics to make the adventure seem different. But, assuming we will stay in Unova for BW2, why do the gyms absolutely have to stay if an altered system would provide for a new and interesting experience? The fact that the gyms have always been in the games is not a good enough reason. To a game designer, it would be much more important to provide a fresh experience than it would be to pointlessly stick to a pattern.

Are you sure about that? Call of duty has done the same thing for years, with minor gamemode changes (which were played at first, but then forgotten by many, kill confirmed was suppose to get rid of campers, but became like a standard tdm in 2 weeks.) Modern Warfare 2 set world records, which were broken by black ops; whose records were broken by MW3. Now, you said to a game designer, which doesn't have to stick only to pokemon. I know call of duty isn't pokemon, but you were talking about game designers.

and those scans looks sick. i think we will be seeing more previous gen pokemon being added to unova pre-E4

Gah.. I don't like the main characters designs.. I miss Black's Design he was cool looking. This new guy looks like... How do I put it... You know how Ash design got crappier when he transferred over to Black and White from Diamond and Pearl. That's how I feel this new guy looks, he looks like a rejected character design.

And parts of Unova is frozen.. This game is getting more interesting by the second. My only question is, whether this will effect the anime as well.

So two new Gym leaders too! I wonder if the Striation Gym Leaders are gone afterall?! There is a new Water gym.. and a Poison gym! Part of Unova is frozen though, could explain that two gym leaders will be unable to be accessed?

Not frozen, but something has changed there looks-wise. Those are the clouds Gamefreak deploys when it wants to hide and obscure areas on the map.

So two new Gym leaders too! I wonder if the Striation Gym Leaders are gone afterall?! There is a new Water gym.. and a Poison gym! Part of Unova is frozen though, could explain that two gym leaders will be unable to be accessed?

"The first images from CoroCoro have started to come. These images showcase the first screenshots of Pokémon Black 2 & White 2 and provide a lot of information. First, the game is set in Unova and shows the new trainers and the rival. The game is set 2 years latr than in BW and features Unova being partially frozen. The Unova Pokédex has 300 Pokémon within it. There are various new areas in Unova including Hiougi City, where you begin your journey. There are other areas which has a gym leader who focuses upon Poison; Homiga. Another gym leader is Shizui, the Water-type leader. The trainer with the spiky hair is the rival
Hiougi City has a Pokémon Centre and a Trainer School and areas where you can look upon the areas. There are shops, underwater tunnels with clear glass (mantines flowing overhead), building with blue and red statues.
That's all the information these scans provide.
It has also been confirmed that Black Kyurem will know the move Freeze Shock and that White Kyurem knows the move Ice Burn/ We'll bring more should it come later" STRAIGHT FROM THE FRONT PAGE OF SEREBII. posted here if you're too lazy to go look at it.